Clan Building, Crystal Hunting and Jaywalking
by Dusk Mind
Summary: Transported to a mysterious, magical world, Marche Raidijuu sets on an adventure in order to find his missing little brother and his friends.


**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, its characters, stories or anything. This is a non-profit fan-made fanfiction.**

 **A/N: FFTA is one of those games that I always find myself playing over and over again, no matter how many times I finish it. So I decided it would be cool to write a fic based around it. As many people before me, i will write a novelization of sorts of the main story, giving it my own spin and style. Not much to add, really.**

 **Just as a side note, I was planning to include elements from other Ivalice related games later on (mostly, races and jobs not found in the actual game); but im not completely sure about it. It would be great to know what you guys think about that before making up my mind. Anyway, here goes nothing!**

* * *

 _It was a day like any other..._

 **Clan Building, Crystal Hunting and Jaywalking**

 **Chapter 1**

It was already getting late. As the sun was setting far on the horizon, the young moogle, known to his friends only as ´Montblanc´, walked carefree on the sandy meadows at the center of the hume-predominant city of Cyril. Pink-cream fur, a golden blonde hair strand that matched with the orange color of the antennea on his head and his wings; he wore a green shirt with brown pants and small shoes. On his hand, a long wooden rod adorned with leaves all around it, and a few acorns and a red string next to the curled top. Barely reaching knee-level of an adult hume, Montblanc was a young but smart and cool-headed moogle, enthusiastic and always eager to help out others in need.

He wasnt sure why he was walking around the always so busy streets of Cyril this late; he wasnt one to just wander aimlessly, and he knew it would be wise to return and look for those ´friends´ of him. _"They should all be drunk by this time of the day, kupo.",_ thought to himself the young Moogle, as he sighed and faced the direction of the pub they usually hung around. He needed to check on them, he was sure of it. But there was something bothering him; his gut feeling was telling him to stick around a little more, that something would happen if he did. Maybe he just needed to clear his mind from all the problems he had been having as of late.

He and his comrades had been trying to create a clan, but they had so little manpower and there were so many reknown clans in such a large city that getting a good job was almost impossible. Not to mention their teamwork left much to be desired; since some of them had side-jobs in order to sustain themselves. After all, their little group wasnt able to obtain enough jobs to make a decent living. Therefore, they almost never had enough members to be able to pull out significant jobs.

With a final glance of the sunset, Montblanc turned and decided to head off and meet the others. He only wished that maybe, something good could happen every once in a while.

However, he soon noticed a lot of people rushing around. Mothers pulling the hands of their excited and complaining small children, gossipy neighbors looking hesitant and grumpy as also some desperate merchants quickly taking their belongings and leaving their places abandoned. _"It seems like an engagement is going to happen, kupo."_ Curiosity took the best of him, and Montblanc decided to take a look. When he arrived to the center plaza a few seconds later, he saw the reason of all the uproar.

Two furious bangaas were staring down a young hume kid, who seemed like he was about to ruin his pants. He had pale skin and bushy long yellow hair -no-, blonde hair, as it was called among humes, for whatever reason, in a small ponytail; and seemed no older than 14 or so years. He was garbed in an apparently custom soldier uniform, which consisted of a blue long-sleeved shirt above a short turtle-necked red shirt, with brown short pants that had a long strap to each side of him, as also long leather socks that reached above his knees and normal fighting shoes; he also seemed to have a common bronze sword with him. However, the face on the kid didnt reflect that of a warrior, - instead, it was the face of a small child scared of a monster.

"Repeat it again, little hume!" asked the guttural, reptilian voice of the largest bangaa, looking angrily at the kid. Dressed as a monk, he was wearing a green head-piece and dark brown pants; his scales a light yellow-bronze colour, as also having shorter ears than others; a Bangaa Ruga. The other bangaa instead seemed calmer, scales of an ash-gray color... Bangaa Sanga, if he recalled correctly, who was wearing only some pants held by leather straps tied to the scabbard of his longsword on his back, as also a pouch on the left side of his waist. "How did you call me?" asked the Monk warrior, dressed in green.

"I´m sorry, I didnt..." tried to reply the young soldier, to no avail.

"You called me a lizard!" snapped the larger bangaa, tired of the attitue of the little punk. "It takess a lot of nerve to call a bangaa a ´lizard´!"

 _"Oh, so that is what happened."_ Montblanc could already tell the entire story. A young, probably pampered kid who had never left home, yet tried to join a clan as soon as he reached the necessary age. Probably a shut-in, seeing as he didnt know enough about a bangaa. _"These kids dont know what they are getting at when they try to become clan members, kupo. They think they will become rich and famous faster that they can say ´kupo´!"_

However, Montblanc couldnt help but feel bad for the kid. No matter the difference in background, the main issue was that they were both the same: idealistic and naive younglings that were now facing the true face of reality. He sighed... He was probably going to regret doing this, but he just couldnt leave him like that.

"There you are, kupo!"

Both the young hume and the two bangaas turned to the direction of the high-pitched voice, to see a young moogle walking towards them. "I´ve been looking all over the place for you!" He stood next to the blonde soldier, and adressed him with all the familiarity of the world, expecting the kid to understand the hints; otherwise both of them would be getting into trouble.

"You know thisss hume brat, moogle?" asked the angrier bangaa to the moogle.

"You´ll have to forgive him, kupo." replied Montblanc, naturally, "He´s from the countryside, and there arent many bangaas from where he comes from." He then turned to see to the young hume. "Apologize to the bangaa, kupo!"

"Su-sure..." said the young human, seemingly understanding the plan of the small creature. "I-i´m so sorry, sir. I didnt intend to insult you; I was just a little surprised, that´s it." The kid bowed his head to the bangaa, as to look even more apologetic to him; custom the young moogle didnt recognize. Nonetheless, it seemed to work. The other bangaa placed his hand on the shoulder of his infuriated partner, as to calm him down; who seemed to hesitantly accept the apology.

"You´ll have to forgive him. He isnt used to seeing Bangaas, that´s all." explained Montblanc, as he signaled the young hume to follow him and get their rears out of there as soon as possible before-

"Wait a minute!" called the Bangaa. "Thosse clothess you wear mean you are a ssoldier, right? Mind an engagement?"

"Uh... well..." replied the young kid, before being interrumpted.

"I´ll take that ass a yess!" cut the Monk, a sly smile on his face. "Call a judge!" he commanded to the other bangaa, who only shrugged his shoulders and sighed. The hesitant ash-skinned bangaa opened the pouch on his waist, and took out a large, metallic card. The bangaa then used some kind of magic, and the card disappeared.

The young hume seemed lost. "Wh-what is going on?" he asked, confusion written all over his face.

"He´s engaging you, kupo." explained Montblanc, as he facepalmed. Just the thing he was trying to avoid the most...

Suddenly the sound of a whistle came, and from thin air, a mysterious figure appeared. Covered from head to toes in armor, riding a horse-sized yellow bird that somehow resembled a very well-nurtured ostrich, clad in armor as well. The man then viewed the entire landscape in order to analyze the place. "This will be a two-on-two engagement between Nobuo and Uematsu from Clan Draco against Montblanc and Marche Raidijuu, both from no specified clan." Montblanc grimaced at the reminder of his clan having no name, which basically equals as being in no Clan at all.

The young kid, however, seemed more surprised than everything else. _"Just what the hell is going on? How did that man get in there? And how does he know my name!?"_

His questions would have to wait, however. The Judge pulled out another large metallic card, which he crushed with his hands, causing a magical light to cover a large area around the four to-be-fighters. He then brought out a magical whistle and used it, which was the cue for both the bangaas and the moogle to launch each other.

Montblanc flied thanks to the little wings on his back, as he was able to leap and avoid the ash-skinned bangaa´s initial sword slash, and soon started to fly around his foe, chanting magical spells in order to attack the much larger bangaa with magic. First, he commanded various Thunder spells, creating small electric sparks from the tip of its rod and directing them towards his opponent, hitting the warrior bangaa in his uncovered belly and arms. The bangaa furiously tried to hit Montblanc with his longsword, but Montblanc´s size and speed allowed him to evade the swing, as he flied to the back of his opponent to cast another Thunder spell. The bangaa swung his sword in a spinning motion, which Montblanc read and evaded, with the intention to repeat this strategy. However, he didnt expect the bangaa to continue spinning the sword like a top, hitting Montblanc on the side, injuring his now bloody left wing, sending the moogle flying towards the floor.

"Kupo... that hurts." He tried to react, but soon saw the bangaa had recovered and was runing towards him. Montblanc wouldnt be able to stand so quickly, so he had to stop the bangaa from moving. He casted a Fire spell, and shot a ball of fire towards the left feet of the Warrior, making him drop the sword and hop on his right feet, comcially holding his injured leg, trying to recover from the pain from the burn. Montblanc used this as a chance to recover his breath and jog away to think of a new plan.

* * *

Marche, however, was another case altogether. As soon as the larger, Monk bangaa had started to run towards him, Marche just started to run like crazy in the opposite side, trying to evade any fight. "What´ss the matter, boy?" asked the Bangaa, enjoying the fear on the face of the kid, but irritated that he couldnt actually catch him. "If you want to join a clan, you need to learn to fight and face your own problemss!"

"I dont know what you are talking about!" yelled Marche, already running out of breath. "I never said anything about that, and I dont want to fight either!" He then reached a wall, and as the angry Bangaa caught up with him, he launched a powerful swing towards the young hume; who narrowly avoided the punch as he stumbled and fell into the floor. The bangaa hit the wall, cracking it but hurting himself all the same. This gave Marche enought time to turn tail and start running again. The bangaa shook off the blood and pain from his hand, and as he recovered, he started to follow the hume as his growling intensified.

"Sshould have thought twice before getting into that ssoldier outfit, then!" spat the Monk, furious that he missed his shot. This little kid was really starting to get into his nerves. He followed the soldier until they reached a street filled with now empty shops. He saw the young man crawl under one of the tables, trying to hide. How childish! The bangaa went to the table and kicked it with his massive feet, but the young man was nowhere to be found. He then heard the little punk skiddling under the tables, getting away from him. _"Is this kid for real? How could such a weakling become a soldier in the first place?"_

Furious, the Monk kicked and pushed the tables away easily, as the young soldier crawled under them in order to outrun him. But the bangaa was faster than Marche´s crawling, and he quickly caught up with him. When the table above him was destroyed by the large feet of the Monk, Marche turned terrified to see the large bangaa as he struck him down with a large fist to Marche´s face, which was followed by a powerful kick to the ribs, sending the hume flying against a wall.

Marche hit the wall with a big ´THUD´, and then fell to the cold ground. His vision was blurry, and he had the taste of blood in his mouth. Every muscle in his body hurt, and he was barely able to remain conscious. _"This is crazy. No dream would hurt like this... Am I going to die like this? Without knowing where I am? Without knowing how or why I got here!? Without knowing where my little brother is... Donned...!"_ The image of his little brother, however, flashed in his mind, which was enough for him to gather enough courage to keep fighting. He couldnt just give up. Not with his little brother missing. Not without some answers!

 _"I am NOT going to die!"_

Despite the pain, Marche was able to lean on the wall and stand, gasping heavily as blood fell to his face from a deep cut in his head. "Sstill want to fight, boy?" asked cockily the bangaa, crossing his arms. "You ssure have gutss, I´ll give you that!"

"I... I am not going to lose..." said Marche, confidence in his weak, yet firm voice.

"Heh! That´ss a good one!" laguhed the bangaa, as he looked down on the pitiful figure of the kid. He then grabbed him by the throat and slammed Marche agaisnt the wall. "Ssorry kid! But this fight iss over already!"

* * *

Behind them, Montblanc was gasping heavily. Despite using so many spells, the other bangaa was still standing. Both were tired, and Montblanc didnt have enough strenght to fly away now (and with the large gash he had received before, his wings couldnt stand it anyway). If the Warrior bangaa came attacking him, he would have no way to run away now. He had to take a chance.

"Blizzard!" commanded the little wizard, as a blue lighting came out from the top of its rod and went directly towards the Warrior bangaa. The bangaa, however, decided to block the magic with its sword, turning it into a huge lollipop. So instead of a sword, he now had an ice mace. "Not good..." quipped the moogle. The bangaa, however, wasnt able to move as freely with it, and his attacks were more predictable and clunky. The bangaa tried to do an overhead slash, but apparently the wieght was too much for him and he wasnt able to do it.

An idea popped in Montblanc´s mind. Once gain, he called the same ice spell, and once again increased the mass surrounding the sword. Now, the bangaa couldnt even move its weapon. After struggling a little, the warrior gave up and decided to just attack the moogle with its fists. Big mistake.

"Fire!" commanded Montblanc, striking the bangaa on both arms with the fiery spell. The bangaa winced from the pain, and Montblanc was able to use that distraction to conjure up his entire power in the next attack. "Lighting!" A huge electrical wave attacked the bangaa, who just couldnt take anymore and collapsed into the floor. Montblanc had won. "He is finally down, kupo..."

He dropped to the floor, exhausted, trying to recover his breath, when he heard a raspy laugh over the other side of the long plaza where most of the fighting had taken place. He turned, and saw both the hume kid and the bangaa. He was genuinely surprised that the kid had survived this fight for so long. Even though it seemed he wouldnt last too long... Montblanc now had to think of a way to fight the other bangaa too. Yet he doubted he would have the strength to do it.

Marche, however, didnt want to give up now. He wasnt going down without at least a fight, that was for sure. However, the bangaa started to strangle him with his massive hand, and Marche couldnt do anything but to try to push the hands of the bangaa with his weak arms. He then remembered the sword he had on his waist and hadnt bothered to use until now; but as soon as he tried to reach it, the bangaa decided to simply apply even more force in order to choke Marche. The bangaa Monk only smiled trimuphantly as he applied more force into choking the little punk into submission, and so he made the mistake of ignoring Marche in order to catch a glimpse of the other combatants. They would surely have finished their fight by now.

This distraction was all that Marche needed.

The young hume bit the bangaa´s bleeding hand with all of his strenght, making the bangaa jolt and forcing him to let go of the soldier thanks to the sudden pain. This gave Marche enough time to cough and recover his breathing. The Monk recovered quickly too, and readied himself to punch the little runt and finish this.

Little did he expect for Marche to roll out of the way, bring out his sword, and slash the exposed ribs of the large bangaa with his weapon.

"H-h-how..." muttered the Monk in disbelief, as he held his wound, trying to unsuccesfully stop the rain of blood, before falling unconcsious to the floor.

Montblanc couldnt believe what he had just seen. "He won... The kid won, kupo!" Even though the hume soldier was in such a terrible condition, he had been able to win this fight somehow. Most people would call it beginner´s luck, but Montblanc knew better than that.

It was raw and pure talent.

He then approached the young hume soldier. "Are you okay, kupo?"

"I... I won..." muttered the young soldier, heavily breathing. " I did it..."

"Cant believe it myself, kupo!" replied the chippier moogle.

"Can... I ask you to do something for me... before i..." asked Marche, feeling his strenght being drained from him.

The moogle forwned, as if he didnt understand the real intention of such a request. However, he soon replied. "I´ll listen."

"Please... you have to find and protect Donned Raidijuu... my little borther..." Marche said, seriously. "If I´m not around, at least someone else..."

Montblanc seemed to become serious at the mention of the words ´little brother´. He knew how it felt to being separated from his family, so he understood the pleas from the hume soldier. "I understand. I will."

"Th-thank you... I..." muttered Marche, weakly, "then I can rest-"

"Match over!" yelled the Judge from before, casting a magical spell, and the magic field from before was raised from the place.

"...in peace..." muttered Marche, before realizing after a few seconds that his energy had returned, and he was completely all right. "h-huh?"

"Any problem?" asked the moogle, with a not-so-innocent smile to the young hume soldier.

"I´m... I´m okay?" asked Marche, as he started to search for the pain and broken bones he had gotten in the previous battle, to no avail. Heck! Not even the dirt and blood stains were left in his clothing.

"Of course you are!" chirped the small moogle, smiling. "All the damage we take in Judge-supervised battles is erased at the end of it. Look!" Marche then turned to where the small moogle pointed, to see the two bangaas completely all right, protesting their loss to the Judge. They were both okay, and the supposedly-fatal wound he had inflicted on the larger bangaa was gone too. Tired from the pestering of both bangaas, the judge pulled another (seemingly magical) card from one of his pockets, this one completely red, like a penalty card, and both bangaas were magically paralyzed and then transported somewhere else. "As long as we fight under the Jurisdiction of the Royal Palace, we are completely safe. We have to abide by their rules, however... Otherwise we would be sent to jail."

"So you are telling me that I was in no danger of dying during that fight?" asked the young man, sweatdropping.

"None at all, kupo!" replied the moogle, still smiling.

"Aaaarrgghhh!" yelled the young soldier, as he fell into the floor from the frustation. Montblanc sighed. This had been more trouble that it was worth, for sure. Well, they would at least have some reward money from this. His thoughts were interrumpted when the kid started to awkwardly laugh at the whole situation.

 _"Yep! Completely clueless!" It was_ a miracle that they had been able to win the fight at all! Strange kid, this hume. _"However, for him to fight in such a kupo way during his first engagement? That´s really something not anyone could pull out! This kid has talent, kupo!"_ It seemed like his gut feeling had been correct all along.

* * *

The battle now over, both the hume soldier and the moogle mage had some time for introductions, and most importantly, some explanations.

"Thank you for helping me out." said the young hume to the small moogle. "I dont know what I would have done without your help."

"Think nothing of it, kupo." replied Montblanc, "But please do _try_ to remember from now on that calling a bangaa like that just means trouble."

"I´m sorry, I really didnt know." replied sheepishly the soldier. "It´s the first time I´ve seen one..."

"Strange. How could you not know what a bangaa is?" asked the moogle, curious.

"Sorry, I´m just really lost and confused right now. And worst of all, now I´m talking to a stuffed animal!" protested the kid, seemingly unaware that he could be starting yet another fight.

"Stuffed animal? I´ll have you known I´m a moogle, Kupo!" replied Montblanc, half indignation, half amusement.

"A moogle? Okay, and what is that exactly?" asked Marche.

He didnt know what a moogle was? Nobody can be that dumb in purpose. "All right then, I believe you. You ARE confused." sighed the young moogle, "Let´s begin with the basics, kupo: This is the town of Cyril, on the land of Ivalice."

"Ivalice? That´s the town where I come from." explained the young man.

"Town? Ivalice is a country, kupo." replied Moogle.

"Not my Ivalice... But to be honest, I´m not sure at this point." replied Marche, sighing. "It seems to me like I was sucked into a videogame or something..."

"Kupo?" asked Montblanc, confused.

"It´s like... a false world. A fantasy! Magic, moogles, liz- eeerrr, bangaas; None of these things exist in my world." explained the confused young hume.

"No magic? No moogles? That´s nonsense!" said the small creature, skeptical. "Are you trying to tell me that this is like your pretend world or something?"

"I know it sounds crazy, but it´s the only explanation I have for it..." said the soldier, getting a headache already. "This place is really similar to that ´Final Fantasy´ game my brother likes so much, now that I think about it."

"Now I´m the one that´s confused..." sighed Montblanc, trying to grasp the idea about a world without magic. He was sure he wouldnt enjoy it one bit, that´s for sure.

"Sorry, I know I´m not being too useful..." said meekly the young human.

"Well, that´s one kupo story you´ve got yourself there, kiddo." quipped the small mage.

"You´re telling me!" replied Marche.

"Of course, I´m not sure I completely believe you." said the moogle, still being hesitant about the whole deal.

"I´m not sure I belive myself at this point." sighed Marche, realizing how crazy all that must have sounded to someone from ´this world´.

"Well, it´s not like I think you are lying either." smiled the moogle, "A good liar could have gotten out of that situation without my help."

"I-i suppose that´s true..." said Marche apologetically.

"Still, I don´t think that us meeting like this was a coincidence either." added Montblanc, remembering his ´gut feeling´ from before. "I think it´s better for your own safety to be around someone that understands how completely clueless about the world you are, don´t cha´ think?"

"What do you mean?" asked Marche.

"Well, anyway you slice it you have nowhere to go, right?" asked Montblanc. The sudden surprise on the face of the hume soldier answered his answer, as did the look of realizing just how screwed he was. _"Then maybe..."_ "Well, if you dont mind me asking, why dont you come with me? The way you defeated that bangaa, luck or not, required some skill and talent. The easiest way to gather information around these parts is by joining a clan, and truth be told, me and my friends are a few hands short. If you join us, you can work to earn your food and stay until you can figure things out."

Marche reflected on the words the moogle had just told him. He was right. Whether it was this or his world, he needed to eat and sleep. This little guy seemed nice enough to offer him a job, and right now he needed all the support he could find in order to survive. "You are right. I need the help, and if it isnt much of a problem, then I will accept your offer."

"It´s settled then!" yelled excited the small moogle, "This is the beginning of the most kupo team ever! You´ll see!"

Marche chuckled. The little moogle seemed to be quite easily excited. "I´m Marche. Marche Raidiju."

"Montblanc, nice to meet you." replied the moogle while flying up and shaking Marche´s hand.

They both left the place, Montblanc leading the way, with the young kid right behind him. Marche, despite everything, felt a little warm and proud about himself and this whole thing... After all, this was the first time he had introduced himself first. Maybe, coming to this place won´t be that bad after all...

 **This Mission was a Success!**

* * *

 **A/N: That last line is so corny... I love it!**

 **Anyway... This was a blast to write! Now, if you ask me why would i skip the intro scene at the real world, well... it would be me writing a snowball fight between kids and i just can´t imagine it turning out any good. I also wanted to take Montblanc´s own point of view into things; why would he help out a complete stranger like Marche out of the blue? I think i did a good job in that, at least. Maybe I could have some flashbacks into the story of the three kids, but I want to keep this story as much as possible just on the "fake-world". For a change, you know. And the real world, from what i hear, is pretty boring.**

 **I really wanted to give my own spin to the world of FFTA, and i think i was able to add my own layer of twisted, casual humour and dialogue into it. I wanted the fights to be as intense and gritty as possible, but also to keep the setting as light-hearted as possible too; i hope i was able to pull it out. I apologize for the Montblanc vs bangaa fight, i just had no idea how to write it correctly, i guess. Hope it´s not that bad...**

 **I also want to have the judges be really moody and short-tempered; to give them some personality and also as a little foreshadowing. And talking about judges, i will try to work out the process of judges and laws in Ivalice too. It was one of the concepts that captivated me about the game from the beginning, and the ability to think about how exactly they would work just interests me a lot.** **Anyway, I hope you really liked this chapter. Since im trying to get my writing skills sharpened, next chapter will be hopefully soon.**

 **Remember, if you feel like adding elements from other Ivalice games is okay or not, just let me know. Until then, hope you guys enjoyed this and see you next time!**


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